


sitting there across the way

by ccj



Series: Meddlesome [2]
Category: Andi Mack (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/F, F/M, FRIENDSHIP!!!, Fluff, Getting Together, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-13
Updated: 2019-07-13
Packaged: 2020-06-27 18:27:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,847
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19796551
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ccj/pseuds/ccj
Summary: “Look,” Marty pushes the tattered Toy Story lunchbox he still uses to the side which means he means business, “Right now it’s just a little infatuation but I’m gonna slowly but surely make this grow into a full blown crush Kippen. A mutual one too. You’ll see. Amber’s right. You two make sense.”Or: 5 times Marty meddles in TJ's love life +1 time he meddles in Marty's.





	sitting there across the way

**Author's Note:**

> This is just a little AU where TJ never bullied Buffy but was just a general Angsty Jerk in middle school. Now in high school, he and Amber have been softened through their love of Mr. Marty Party and TJ spots Cyrus for the first time and a crush and shenanigans ensue. Just good fun! Enjoy :) 
> 
> (This is the second in a series of characters meddling in TJ/Cyrus's relationships but you can read the fics completely independently!)

1.  
TJ Kippen is pretty sure he’s in love. To be fair, he’s never spoken to the guy but he’s cute, he’s really cute. TJ watches him talk to Marty a few tables away, all laughter and hand gestures so emphatic that he accidentally knocks a milk carton from the tray of a kid walking by. He fumbles to the ground to save it and apologize a million times, so enthusiastically that TJ can hear it despite the stretch of cafeteria between them and it’s cute. He’s cute. TJ doesn’t really notice when Marty sits down across from him.

“Earth to TJ,” Marty waves a hand in front of his face. When TJ looks up he notices that Marty has a mouthful of fries, despite bringing his standard packed lunch of a PB&J and doritos. TJ frowns at his plate.

“Hey. You owe me!”

Marty pushes forward his unopened ziploc baggie of grapes. TJ rolls his eyes and grabs a handful of doritos.

“What’s on your mind Timmy?” Marty asks at the same time that TJ blurts out “Who was that kid?”

“What kid?” Marty looks behind him in both directions before looking back to TJ.

“The one you were talking to.”

“What? Oh! You mean Cyrus?”

“Who?”

“Cyrus?” Marty gives TJ a bemused look, “Cyrus Goodman? Andi and Buffy’s Cyrus?” TJ stares at him blankly. “Dude, seriously? He’s gone to school with us since like third grade. Everyone knows Cyrus! You really don’t pay attention do you? This is why I’m your only friend.”

“Hey! I’m your only friend too!”

“That’s not true. I have Buffy!”

“Does it count if you want her to be more than a friend though?” TJ teases, pushing around the floppy bun of his hamburger, considering it.

“Shhh,” Marty blushes bright red, turning frantically to where Buffy is still tables away, paying them no mind, laughing at something the cute boy said. Cute boy chokes on his muffin laughing back and TJ is reminded of the matter at hand.

“You never answered my question.”

“Huh?”

“Who’s this Sirius kid?”

“ _Cyrus_. He’s a friend of Buffy’s. One of her best friends. He’s cool.”

“Cool,” TJ nods, watching him set down the muffin and continue eating it now with a _fork_ which somehow is even more endearing.

“Why do you care anyways?” Marty asks and TJ quickly brings his gaze back to him, feigning nonchalance.

“Nothing I just…”

“Oh you think he’s cute!” Now it’s TJ’s turn to blush. “Aww...Timothy Jimothy’s got a little crushie wushie!”

“Ew,” Amber sits down beside TJ, tray clattering, “What’s with the voice? I told you no more baby voices Marty.”

“TJ has a crush! On Cyrus!” Marty beams as Amber drops her jaw, closes it, drops it again, before looking between TJ and cute boy (Cyrus, he should probably remember that) a few tables away.

She nods to herself, “Okay actually, yeah that makes sense. You should ask him out,” She says and promptly digs into her blissfully not half eaten fries, ignoring the chaos of TJ borderline spitting his red gatorade all over his burger.

“I should not!”

“How do you even know Cyrus?” Marty pipes up.

“I thought everyone knew Cyrus,” TJ shoots Marty a smirk, “Besides, if he’s friends with Andi Mack I assume Amber just knows him from all the days she spends social media stalking her.”

“TJ!” Amber elbows him hard and he mutters an angry curse about how bony she is under his breath. “I told you that in confidence! Sibling confidence! Twin confidence!”

TJ is thinking up a retort bordering on an excuse when Marty squeals, “Oh my god! We all have crushes on members of the Good Hair Crew! Guys! That’s so cute! We’re so cute!”

“The who?”

“Good hair crew,” Amber says dryly as if that’s at all an explanation. “It’s what they call themselves, Cyrus, Andi, and Buffy.” TJ opens his mouth, “Before you bash it, Cyrus came up with it.”

“Why would he bash it? It’s cool! I wish we had a clique name,” Marty narrows his eyebrows as if thinking far too hard, “What about the triplets?”

Amber scoffs, “You’re not related to us Marty, how many times do I have to remind you of that?”

“But I want to be! That has to count for something! Whatever, I’ll figure out the name situation after I get the TJ and Cyrus situation going.”

“The what? There is no situation. Guys, I just saw him and thought he was...c-cute,” he stutters around the word, “That doesn’t make it a situation!”

“TJ _perceived as mean really just angsty_ Kippen calling someone cute? That’s absolutely a situation,” Amber says in that Amber way where she’s so sure of herself that it makes you sure that everything you just said you really meant the opposite of. Shit.

“Look,” Marty pushes the tattered Toy Story lunchbox he still uses to the side which means he means business, “Right now it’s just a little infatuation but I’m gonna slowly but surely make this grow into a full blown crush Kippen. A mutual one too. You’ll see. Amber’s right. You two make sense.” He winks at TJ as the end of lunch bell rings and he jumps up from the table, downs the crumbs at the bottom of the doritos bag in one poured back gulp, and chases after Buffy for an “accidental” “casual” run-in.

2.

The problem is that it’s a month into school which means that schedules are still being shuffled slightly, mostly for students who are liked enough by administration to get changed into the elective of their choice. The problem is that, as TJ has learned because he’s paying attention now apparently, Cyrus Goodman is one of those students. The problem is that on his first day of painting, Cyrus Goodman looks around helplessly for a familiar face and somehow, Cyrus _known and adored by everyone_ Goodman lands on him.

“Hey!” He drops his backpack by the easel next to TJ, which is empty because every non athlete is residually afraid of him from him being kind of an angsty jerk in middle school and every non Marty athlete refuses to talk to him after his falling out with Reed. He’s used to sitting alone in class. He’s not used to the way that Cyrus smiles and says, “You’re Marty’s best friend right?”

All TJ can think to do is nod. “Cool, I thought so!” He grabs a paintbrush and begins to fiddle with it, “He talks about you like all the time lately!”

“Oh does he now?” TJ is so going to kill him.

“Yeah! All good things, I swear! A lot of good things actually.”

“Uh huh,” TJ says. This explains why Marty had texted him “planting the seed dude, planting the seed ;)” with multiple seedling emojis the other day. “Oh um, he talks about you a lot too,” he adds lamely as an afterthought, cursing himself in his head.

“Really?” Cyrus’s eyes go wide, “Wow that’s so nice to hear!”

“It is?”

“Well yeah! Who wouldn’t want to be talked about behind their back?!”

“I think a lot of people?” Cyrus just shrugs and before TJ can overthink it too much he pipes up, “I guess you’re not a lot of people huh? Or like a lot of people I mean? Or...you’re just one of a kind...is what I mean…from...what I’ve seen...” Wow he’s going to die. He’s going to kill Marty and then he’s going to face plant so hard into the cement that he’s just going to die on impact and-

“Oh gosh,” Cyrus practically lights up, “Well thanks TJ I think you’re one of a kind too! A basketball player and a painter, I’m surprised! Very High School Musical of you.”

“You just don’t know me well enough. I have layers.”

“Well I’d love to see them.”

***

TJ shoots of an “im going to kill u” text to Marty at the end of class when the teacher and Cyrus are far out of sight followed by a “but thank u i guess”

His phone pings immediately with a: “seeds: BLOOMING” and six rows of flower emojis.

3.

It turns out that Cyrus Goodman has no interest in painting. “I just needed to get out of my woodworking elective,” He explains over lunch one day, because apparently they all eat lunch together now. Buffy and Marty are doing their weird flirting/competing routine that’s led to an arm wrestling contest mediated by Cyrus’s friend Jonah. Amber is taking an interest in Andi’s bracelet which TJ assumes/is pretty much completely sure is just an excuse to almost hold her hand and then freak out about it for the next six days.

This leaves TJ and Cyrus in the middle of the table having a conversation all of their own which TJ is perfectly content with. “These hands,” Cyrus drops his muffin and wiggles his fingers, “are not made for splinters. Also, woodworking was at the same time as Latin 1 which I _needed_ to get into, it’s part of my Get Into an Ivy six year plan, learning two languages, Spanish being the first obviously. Anyways, painting was the only other elective that worked with my schedule and...wow I’m rambling aren’t I?”

“It’s okay. I like hearing you ramble.” He hears a snort from Marty mid arm wrestle and pointedly ignores it. “I just want to know how you charmed the principal into making that change.”

“Oh that was easy,” Cyrus waves a hand dismissively, “We have things in common.”

“You have things in common with the principal? I know you’re Ivy bound and all but how much of a nerd are you?!”

Cyrus lets out a loud laugh, “A big one. But actually, I ran into him at Salt Lake pride last summer. We had a moment,” he shrugs, “Being gay has its privileges.”

TJ freezes for one short moment, takes a deep breath, and before he can stop himself says, “It sure does.”

Cyrus’s eyes go wide and TJ watches him processing turn into a huge grin. TJ grins back for one impossibly long moment before Cyrus blushes and lets out a barely convincible cough, “So yeah uh moral of the story, I’m terrible at painting.”

“TJ’s killer at it,” Marty says through a grimace, clearly on the road to losing the arm wrestle but refusing to give up.

“I know! I’ve seen what he can do in class!”

“Nah,” Marty lets out a grunt, “He saves the really good shit for home, he’s too embarrassed to bring it to school. Go to his place, he can show you.”

“Oh really? Wow!” TJ is...beyond embarrassed now and still so completely plotting Marty’s death but at the same time he’s so taken by how delighted Cyrus looks. “I’d love to see that if...if it’s alright with you.”

“It’s more than alright with him-”

TJ turns abruptly to Buffy, “He’s ticklish on his neck.”

Buffy reaches up her left hand, scraping her fingers slightly across his skin, causing Marty to burst into a fit of giggles and drop his arm to the table at last, “CHEATING! THAT WAS CHEATING!”

“Oh and like you using your other hand to steady yourself wasn’t!” Buffy shoots back.

TJ quickly turns back from the quarreling almost couple to Cyrus and smiles, “Really though, I’d love to have you over,” He says, standing up to throw his trash away before he can add anything stupid and instinctively grabs Cyrus’s trash to throw out too.

4.

“Okay how would this look?”

Amber absentmindedly picks at a bracelet Andi gave her, sitting cross legged, phone in her lap, pushed against TJ’s pillow. Marty hangs upside down off the end of the bed, shooting off a text or a tweet or who knows what.

Neither of them look up when they mutter out a simultaneous fine. “Guys!” TJ whines, throwing the shirt in between them, “You’re being so unhelpful!”

“And you’re being so annoying,” Marty sticks his tongue out as Amber grabs the shirt and throws it back at TJ.

“He’s right. They’re all fine TJ. And every single one is a hoodie so there’s really not much of a difference.”

“I was totally thinking the same thing,” Marty grins at her but she’s ignoring him in favor of smiling at her phone. “Okay that’s like the tenth time you’ve smiled at your phone like that in the past five seconds what is going on?”

“Okay…” Amber shoots off a text and locks her phone, tossing it to the side, “Fine. I asked Andi out and she said yes.”

The “WHAT” from Marty and TJ is nearly simultaneous in both timing and pitch. “When?” Marty yells at the same time that TJ lets out a “You didn’t tell me?”

“I didn’t want you doofuses to mess it up,” She shrugs, “Marty always wants to do weird schemes and I don’t know I…” she looks down at her phone and sighs, “Okay honestly I didn’t want to jinx it. Is that weird?”

“No, that’s not weird but it _is_ incredibly stupid. But we get it. And when you get over that feeling you’re telling us everything,” Marty rolls over so he’s sitting right side up now and pulls TJ onto the bed by the wrist. The three of them sit side by side for a long moment squished onto TJ’s twin bed until the doorbell rings and TJ jumps up with a yelp.

“Out! Out of my room!” He screams, grabbing the hoodies strewn around his room and shoving them under his bed.

They scurry to the door but TJ grabs Amber by the shoulder on her way out. “Hey. I’m happy for you loser.”

“Whatever,” She rolls her eyes, “Go get your man.”

*

TJ doesn’t want to use the word disastrous but things kind of go disastrously. He finds himself tongue tied around Cyrus, finds himself wishing he knew the perfect thing to say or even paint. His brush stroke is shaky. He’s mostly silent and he can’t tell if it’s the comfortable type of silence or the awkward type of silence and it’s truly and fully killing him. He pretends to check the time on his phone and sends Marty a one word text instead: Help.

It takes all but a thumbs up emoji response and less than a minute for Marty to burst through the bedroom door, which doesn’t surprise him since he assumes that he and Amber stayed across the hall in Amber’s room in an attempt to spy. “TJ!” He yelps, “Emergency!”

“Oh my gosh!” Cyrus drops his paintbrush, “What is it?!”

“Uh...your mom...needs maple syrup...from the store?”

“What?!”

“And it’s an emergency?” Cyrus is far too sweet and is taking this far too seriously.

“Yeah. Baking emergency. You should go to the store. But take the back route, through the neighborhoods, she doesn’t want you on the roads at this...hour....”

TJ is, for the millionth time in his life but especially recently, going to kill his best friend. “It’s literally four P.M.”

“I’m just kind of confused,” Cyrus admits, “Why does she want us specifically to go? And what recipe exactly-”

“No time for questions!” Marty gives him a shove, “Go put your shoes on, go go go!” With his pushing, Cyrus hurries downstairs, leaving TJ to stare down Marty.

“Are you kidding me?” He hisses, “This is the best you can come up with?! Also what does this even solve?!”

“The back route is cute! It’s a romantic walk...a change in scenery?”

“That means almost nothing!”

“I panicked okay?!”

“TJ?” Cyrus shouts from down the stairs, “Everything okay up there?”

“YUP!” Marty and TJ shout in sync. TJ gives Marty one hard shoulder punch before running downstairs, hearing a faint “Boys are so stupid” from Amber as he goes.

*

“Hey,” Cyrus says about five houses down, “Thanks for having me over. Even in the silence it’s nice to be with you.”

“Oh…” TJ startles, “I um...yeah. I agree. I mean, I agree it’s nice to be with you, not me-”

“Shhh,” Cyrus presses a finger to TJ’s lips and TJ remains impossibly still until Cyrus lowers his hand and starts walking again, “I guess it’s hypocritical of me to not let you ramble but I just...want you to know that I get what you mean TJ.”

“Oh.”

“Anyways. Sorry I’m so helpless at painting,” Cyrus chuckles.

“In what world are you helpless at anything?” TJ asks and it’s the most coherent sentence he’s gotten out all day because he means it, he really does.

“Oh,” Cyrus says and their hands brush as they walk and TJ thinks _maybe_ and leaves it at that for now.

5.

Cyrus coming over becomes a bit of a regular thing. At first, it’s just to look at his paintings. Then, it’s painting lessons, although TJ doesn’t really know much about teaching so it evolves into them creating ridiculous portraits of each other which evolves into watching High School Musical because according to his portrait of TJ, Cyrus doesn’t even know what a basketball realistically looks like but insists that this is the only sports movie he’ll watch which evolves into hours of dumb conversations which evolves into hours of not so dumb conversations which evolves into…

“What the hell am I doing?” TJ groans, falling dramatically into Marty’s shoulder one night as Marty carefully sorts out the “good” jellybean flavors from the bad ones. He gets a hmm in response which leads to him mumbling incoherently into Marty’s shoulder.

“What was that babe?”

“You know I don’t like it when you call me that.” TJ turns his head so he’s just lying against his shoulder now, face staring forward, dazed.

“Fine. What was that sweetie pie?”

“I said I just like him so much.”

“I know how you feel. If only we could be like Amber and Andi and just get our shit together,” Marty sighs, leaning his head on top of TJ’s, “Ew, lay off the grease, it’s not good for snuggling.”

They sit in silence for awhile, Marty on his phone and TJ staring ahead at the wall until the angst is starting to feel a bit too reminiscent of all the days in middle school sitting here like this wondering who hated him more, himself or Reed. Ugh. “Ugh. Wanna go shoot some hoops and pretend that we’ve never had crushes in our lives?”

“Yup absolutely,” Marty says but before either of them can move there’s a knock at the door.

“Ugh probably Amber, she always forgets her keys,” he grumbles, jumping to his feet.

“Ooh forgets her keys when she’s out on DATES with her GIRLFRIEND?” Marty shouts out, attempting to be loud enough to tease her through the door.

TJ rolls his eyes and flings the door open only to be met by Cyrus, looking up at him with anxious eyes, tapping his fingers against his side, “Can uh...can we talk?”

“How was your DATE?” Marty howls from the living room, “With your GIRLFRIEND!”

“Marty, it’s Cyrus…” TJ calls back as he leads Cyrus inside.

“Oh,” Cyrus’s eyes go wide, “Sorry I didn’t know I was crashing a bro’s night…”

“Nonsense!” Marty exclaims, “You’re totally a bro! Brotally!”

“Marty...uh...Cyrus needed to talk to me-”

“No no it can wait-”

“It doesn’t have to-”

“I can’t just barge in here and-”

“I’M GONNA GO,” Marty shouts over their nervous back and forth, “I’ll be on the driveway shooting hoops,” He says and then, he pulls TJ into a hug, a deep hug, “You deserve to get your shit together man,” He whispers in his ear as he pulls back and retreats towards the front door.

*

In the end, it’s simple. In the end, Cyrus starts rambling about how he’s been thinking for awhile and he’s been too afraid to say it and he’s still afraid but he just has to tell TJ that he likes him, really likes him, like likes him and if he doesn’t feel the same way- he doesn’t get to say that bit. TJ kisses him and Cyrus kisses him back and back and back until he pulls back for air and ends up somehow tripping which leads to the two laughing and falling back onto TJ’s couch together.

“Figures you’d trip over nothing during our first kiss,” TJ grins.

“Hey! It wasn’t nothing! It was that darn height difference, it’s very prominent!”

“It’s very cute,” TJ says, causing Cyrus to blush. Making Cyrus blush used to be his favorite activity but it’s now dropped to second favorite after kissing him. Kissing Cyrus Goodman. “Wow,” he whispers.

“Wow indeed,” Cyrus giggles.

“How were you...brave enough to do that?” TJ asks, after the two have spent a long moment just looking at each other. The silence is nice but something in him just wants to know. “I wanted to so badly but I just...was a coward.”

“You’re not a coward!” Cyrus reaches out and grabs TJ’s hand, causing TJ’s heart to flutter even more than he thought humanly possible, “Besides if you were I was too. I was so afraid you wouldn’t feel the same.”

“But then how did you…”

“Oh!” Cyrus pulls his phone out of his pocket, “Marty made this tweet. Then he at-ed me in it. Then he direct messaged it to me.”

TJ takes the phone and squints at it:

@FromtheParty:  
lol if ur name rhymes w/ iris footpin and ur wondering if ur crush feels the same way: he does. Shoot that shot

@FromtheParty:  
@CyrusGoodman i am capital Bee B EGGING

“Oh my god…” TJ laughs in disbelief, “Okay it’s official this time, I’m going to kill him.”

“Just do me a favor and kiss me again before you have blood on your hands will you?” Cyrus grins up at him. TJ can’t help but comply.

+1

TJ means to make Operation Marty and Buffy a top priority but it falls a bit to the wayside when Cyrus sits beside him at lunch now and gives him a quarter of his muffins (half would be far too much, no matter how much he likes TJ) and kisses him goodbye after painting class. Technically, it’s against school rules but the principal looks the other way on this one.

He plans on coming up with a whole scheme but in the end, he keeps it simple:

@TjKipp:  
If ur named after a vampire slayer and a berry company, ur crush likes u back. Pls put the rest of us out of our misery. Xoxo, society.

When he gets the “you’re dead meat Kippen” text he laughs, throwing it to the side and wraps his arms around his boyfriend’s waist. Cyrus tries to fight him off so he can focus on his Latin homework. TJ wins. Cyrus’s homework falls to the wayside, just for now. TJ’s phone lights up with a text: “but thank u i guess”

**Author's Note:**

> Ty for reading! Amber's up next (and hers will be more canon compliant and in line with mother knows best)!


End file.
